Sacramento’s sleepy downtown should get a much-needed jolt of energy from a new arena — along with some new traffic headaches, say local business owners and residents.

“The arena will change the whole dynamics downtown,” said Liz Tavernese, general manager of the 359-room Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza at 4th and K streets. She’s been at the hotel for more than 20 years, and she can remember back when the west end of K Street Mall was flourishing.

“It will be like the old days again,” she said. She anticipates the hotel’s owner will make changes to pick up business from the K Street side. The hotel entrance is currently on 3rd Street, but it could be renovated to capture more of the excitement of what may develop on K street.

She anticipates a new hotel will be part of the arena development, and though that would mean competition, more importantly it would bring activity and people.

Restaurant owners near the arena also expect to see more business.

“The arena is great news. It is going to bring energy and nightlife downtown,” said Neil Swinney, general manager of the steak house Morton’s at 621 Capitol Mall — a block from the arena site.

“Over the years, Sacramento has started and stopped having an active downtown and a busy nightlife. This will put us over the top,” Swinney said.

A boost to J-K-L Streets

Not only will the arena itself be a boon to the downtown, but businesses attracted by it also will energize the area, Swinney said. “The synergistic effects are going to be tremendous.”

The city has been trying to energize J, K and L streets for years, along with the Downtown Plaza, he said. “With one fell swoop, the mayor has solved a lot of the downtown problems.”

From a business standpoint, the investment in an arena downtown is important, said Jerry Fat, with Fat Family Restaurants. Frank Fat’s restaurant is on the 800 block of L Street, which is two blocks from Downtown Plaza.

“From the standpoint of someone born and raised in Sacramento, this is really good for the city,” said Fat, adding that he hopes the arena will bring more people downtown at night. “This is a huge step that will help downtown as a civic asset.”

Commercial real estate magnate Ethan Conrad said he’s seeing strong interest from potential tenants in the one building he owns downtown: 419 J Street, once occupied by Zokku Lounge.

“The arena will certainly hugely benefit this building because it’s a restaurant/night club building … located almost directly across the street,” he said.

Businesses in Old Sacramento also expect to benefit, said Lloyd Harvego, owner of The Firehouse restaurant. But businesses also are aware that the arena will bring some challenges. Construction and crowds will mean more traffic snarls downtown.

“Getting into Old Sacramento is a problem already,” Harvego said. “The city has said it is committed to figuring out how to make that work.”

One of the concerns he has is that events and basketball games will concentrate too many cars in just a very small area of downtown with limited freeway ramps.

“If you can’t get off the freeway at 7 p.m., people are not going to come down here for dinner,” Harvego said.

Fat noted that the arena will take at least three years to build and the city has committed to improving access to Old Sacramento. Fat also has Fat City Bar & Cafe in the historic district.

“To me, traffic is a good problem. It means people are coming down here,” Fat said.

One downtown resident was a bit less sanguine.

Alkali Flat resident Greg Justice said arena construction would mean street closures that would be a nuisance to people living downtown.

And once the arena opens, “this will mean arena patrons will be taking street (parking) spots that would normally go to residents and businesses,” he said.

Retailers expect surge

Amy Guthrie has no doubt that a new arena will tremendously boost traffic to the two Old Sacramento stores that she and her brother, Mark Snyder, own and operate.

“It’s going to be mind blowing in terms of foot traffic,” said Guthrie, co-owner of Chef’s Mercantile and Christmas & Co.

The people who are out and about before and after events at the arena “are out to spend money” in stores and restaurants, she said, as opposed to some tourists who visit Old Sac to take pictures and see the trains.

In addition, she said, the arena “is the best way to connect Old Sacramento to downtown. There’s always been a little bit of a disconnect.”

With an arena, the downtown activity will “spill over to the historic district,” Guthrie said.

Over at 10th and J streets, the owners of skateboarding shop FTC Sacramento hope a new arena and development around it will eliminate the ghost town feel of downtown after state workers go home.

“Downtown remains pretty abandoned in terms of retail business other than the embarrassing Downtown Plaza,” co-owner Gabe Collins said in an email.

“This project is what we and the rest of Sacramento have been waiting for,” added Collins, who owns the shop with Eddie Lee. “And I believe Sacramento will thrive because of it. It is the confidence push everyone needed to come downtown and be a part of it.”

Broader effects seen

Bars and restaurants need not be near the arena to benefit from Sacramento Kings games — at least when the team is generating excitement. Some say they can see the difference on game nights with the current Natomas arena.

Jeffrey Welch owns two sports bars in Fair Oaks, Players Sports Pub & Grill and Players Pub. Back in 2001 through 2004, when team interest was high, his clubs were “packed in here during any Kings game. And when they were in the playoffs, it was bigger than the NFL games of either the 49ers or the Raiders.”

For the past three years, however, “it was as if the allure of the club was gone.” And that translated into fewer patrons coming into the pubs to watch the games.

“It makes a huge difference that the Kings are staying,” Welch said.

Eric Schnetz, owner of the local pizza chain Chicago Fire, has seen that effect in reverse. He avoided installing television screens in his first restaurant, opened in Folsom in 2003, to preserve a certain atmosphere. But “Whenever the Kings were playing, back when they were good, we saw a big decline in business,” Schnetz said.

He has since opened a Chicago Fire in Folsom at the Palladio at Broadstone, and that location does have screens.

Restaurateur Simon de Vere White agreed that the team’s success on the court can influence business. De Vere White is co-owner of the De Vere’s Irish Pub and the Firestone Public House, both of which are on L Street, about 10 blocks from the arena site.

“There was a lot of uncertainty and disappointment this season,” he said. “The arena will be great for downtown and great for the foot traffic downtown. I see it as nothing but a positive.”

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